Bill C-50: stimulus, EI reform, or a real solution?

Bill C-50: stimulus, EI reform, or a real solution?

In this commentary, AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill emphasizes the need for the government to define whether Bill C-50 – a bill providing temporary expanded Employment Insurance (EI) benefits – is stimulus or EI reform.

Cirtwill assesses whether Bill C-50 is a stimulus initiative: it is temporary, targeted, and likely intended to be timely, but a little late in reality. He then assesses whether it is EI reform. The current problem with our EI system is that it offers “too much” – disincentivizing people from working.

In Bill C-50: stimulus, EI reform, or a real solution?, Cirtwill argues that we can fix the disincentive problem while also addressing the problem of the unemployed who are not being helped by the current EI system. By looking at each form of unemployment in the recessionary period, Cirtwill offers solutions to remake EI into what it was intended to be.